03 Oct KNX IoT Technology: How it works, and its benefits

KNX has been striving to bring the best solutions for over three decades by incorporating new and innovative technologies into the home and building automation industry. We have been keeping an eye on the needs of all the stakeholders, from the end-users and businesses to manufacturers to our partners.

After KNX’s foray into IP technology in 2007 and its tremendous growth and success over the years, we are proud to have launched KNX IoTech, which opens the world of the internet of things to the home and building automation industry. We believe it is time for IoT technology to revolutionize the industry with the best solutions to ensure a more innovative, safer, and sustainable IoT ecosystem.

Facilitates data access

KNX IoTech ensures that the IoT data and information are more easily understandable and identifiable for devices within the IoT ecosystem. Moreover, the new standardized KNX IoT interface called 3rd Party API allows KNX members to add more meaning – called semantics – to the product data. The KNX planning and commissioning tool, ETS, can feed the KNX IoT Interface with this semantic information to anyone or anything accessing it.

This opens the door for optimizing IoT data to improve operational efficiencies and setting up analytics-based solutions like predictive optimization. The KNX IoT 3rd Party API requires that any KNX IoT Interface provide a minimum set of specific data. The way this data is presented or offered is also standardized, although manufacturer-specific extensions remain possible.

This novel way of interacting with a KNX installation comes on top of the technology already available today. It provides much more potential than ever before to allow companies that want to use the data, regardless of whether they are a KNX member.

KNX encourages the exploration of IoT technology

For manufacturers, developers, or businesses looking to make their devices smarter with the KNX data available, there is no need to study any huge amounts of KNX specifications to link their clients and even non-KNX products to IoT projects.

They can concentrate on just studying the KNX IoT 3rd Party API specifications. Moreover, KNX offers, as software, a Proof of Concept to help interested client developers – KNX members or not – realize their solutions quicker. The time to market is reduced, and businesses can be more agile. IoT applications can be simple applications running on mobile platforms or full-fledged cloud solutions that subscribe to specific data offered by such 3rd Party API servers.

Integrates communication channels in smart devices, boosting security

The KNX IoT Technology is, however, more than just the KNX IoT 3rd Party interface. IP technology has simplified the integration of the internet of things in homes and buildings, ensuring that cabling, security, communication, and sustainability protocols are unified. End users can use off-the-shelf software to design products rather than reading hundreds of pages of specifications to implement a different protocol. So, the goal is to use any possible network already in place to transport home and building automation data and to this with protocols and security mechanisms designed for IP.

Instead of designing IoT applications from scratch for so-called “KNX IoT Point API” products, a manufacturer can now additionally make use of off-the-shelf software next to implementing the KNX-specific data formatting and KNX standardized configuration.

 With this extension, sensors and actuators exchanging data related to anything automation from lighting to solar protection to HVAC to energy management or any other functions all could then be not only connected to the KNX cable or KNX wireless but also via a KNX Classic to Point API Gateway and also to IP networks. This opens a vast potential for new product developments. And all these are planned to be configurable by one tool, the ETS.

KNX IoTech is a state-of-the-art technology that will undoubtedly influence the future of the internet of things devices. It is available to all manufacturers, professionals, or other stakeholders within the KNX community or the industry seeking to develop future-driven and innovative devices, solutions, and services. Together we can lead the way to a smarter way of living with IoT technology.